What Should I Do To Out of the Box Winchester?

M

Milehi

New member
Just got a new Winchester M70 .308 Compact. 2 1/4" groups is the best it will shoot out of the box with a certain handload.
The action is OK but could be smoother, the trigger definitely needs work.

In order of priority what would you do to this little rifle to make it a great little rifle? I'm not looking for a long range tack driver , just a lot sweeter M70.

Trigger job? free float barrel? glass bed action? true bolt face? lap lugs? composite stock? NP3 action and Roguard barrel? any thing else?
 
Heck Milehi, do all that you said to it, then you would have a rifle that Private Jackson in the movie "Saving Private Ryan" would be happy to have with him when he made the statement "Put me and this here sniper rifle up to and including one mile of Adolph Hitler with a clear line of fire etc.") :) (got to love a man that thinks that way)
Seriously, I would check the stock bedding first, then lap the action to smooth it some, have the trigger jop done, then see what happens. Its possible that right now with just changing the load you are using the groups could decrease dramaticly, but with a bad trigger it may be hard to tell. I would check bedding first then trigger then play with it before going too far, you may already have a great shooter.

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Carlyle Hebert

[This message has been edited by Southla1 (edited June 04, 2000).]
 
In all seriousness, I'd put it back in the box and trade it for a Rem. 700. Then do all the accuracy tidbits that you mentioned.
 
Like most factory guns today, the Winchester Classics need a little tuning. Discerning shooters like ourselves are seldom satisfied with an out of the box factory rifle and if you have the talent to tweak the thing then why not. I think the short action Winchester Classics are works of art in steel and you get alot of rifle for about $500.

I would first address the barrel/barrel channel relationship. Winchester insists on pressure bedding the barrel in wood stocked rifles. Usually this is detrimental to accuracy. Carefully shave the barrel channel to a close free float and reseal the wood-- hell at this point you may as well glass bed (or pillar bed if you are capable of this level). You'll probably have to work up a new load...

Second is the trigger. Although you can adjust the trigger with 1/4" wrenches you might not be able to reduce the creep without honing the trigger. Brownell's "Action Magic" might help here. If in doubt, get a gunsmith familiar with the Classic M70s and have him put a 3lb tune on it...

Third, your rifle may benefit from having the barrel recrowned. Truing, lapping the lugs, honing the action, and having the chamber recut seem like luxuries on a working gun but if you have the money... The action will become smoother as time goes on.

Have you ever tried sending a gun off to one of those gunsmithing outfits that specialize in accurizing factory guns? They would perform all the above and then some for around $250... Search HCRifle and/or accurizing on the web. Carolina Precision Rifles used to do this too...

I'm excited because I think I have found a Winchester Classic Stainless in .308 and will be doing similar operations on it when I get it... Also reread the Lurcur Rifle/Maddog post for inspiration... Keep us up to date.
 
First, free float and bed the barrel/action. This will clear up most of the problem.
I do not know which handload you are using, so I can't help much there.
Try using the Federal 168 match ammo as a baseline for performance, and work out from there.
Try shortening the barrel a bit as well. I have found that they work best at right about 20 inches, I have seen guns with 24" barrels that were bedded, etc., shoot only about 2" groups, and then tighten up dramatically as the harmonics changed with the shorter barrel. I tend to tune the barrel by cutting it back to 21" and then removing and recrowning about 1/8" at a time until the groups are down around 3/8" or so, then work on loads.
YMMV, depending on your patience, etc.
 
I agree with a good trigger job and rebedding. I also like to use Federal Gold Match as a kind of test baseline. If it will not shoot this stuff well, I tend to think there are problems with the rifle.
The action will smooth up a little more if you give it a 1,000 cycles to smooth it up.
Finally, don't make any decissions about the barrel accuracy until at least 100 rounds are through it. Many believe you should use the first 100 rounds to break it in. I myself have never been able to confirm That this is the true and only way, but it is something else to consider.
I have one of these and it is a sweet little rifle, but it is not accurate. I have put it away for a while, as I do not want to rebuild it right now.
 
Hi, milehi,

You just got the rifle, tried it with one reload and declare that it won't shoot and needs to have something done to it?

Try different loads and different brands of factory ammo. Yes, some factory rifles need work, but I'll bet that with decent ammo that rifle will shoot better than you can.

Jim
 
I agree with Jim. Try out different ammunition first and if you're still not getting sub-moa groups, then per DeBee, free float the barrel and pillar glass bed the action (might as well do it all at the same time). Both are pretty easy to do yourself.

When you want a better trigger, that when you start spending some money on gunsmithing.
 
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